Misoplegia

Abstract

In 1974, Critchley described misoplegia as the phenomenon in which a hemiplegic patient develops a morbid dislike towards the offending immobile limbs. Patients with misoplegia may employ, but more commonly strike their paretic limbs not recognized as self. The pathophysiological mechanism is not well understood. The handful of cases of misoplegia described in the literature, frequently presented a right hemispheric damage. However, patients with chronic spinal cord injury may also present this symptomatology. Not only the modification of behavior by this organic injury, but also the patient reaction to disability and previous personality, may provoke the emergence of misoplegia, probably from other right hemispheric self-unawareness syndromes. No data exists related to treatment option, but we have to remember that the lack of awareness of the deficits in these patients makes the rehabilitation process difficult. Misoplegia is one of the passionate syndromes of the still "not-enough well-known" self-awareness syndromes of the right hemisphere, which shows how brain damage goes much further beyond neurological deficit.